Best Canada Betting Sites

We always like to start with the absolute most important criteria when ranking and reviewing any online betting site (not just those catering to Canadian players). We’re talking about safety and security. Does the betting site take the security of you, your personal information, your bets, and your money seriously? Do they have proactive protocols in place to keep that stuff protected? Do they have a specialized team that is constantly working on fortifying their security measures?

If you didn’t know better, it would sound like we were talking about defending against some sort of wartime attack. Well, it’s sort of true. Of course, there is no fear of armies marching into the online site’s headquarters, but there are certainly a lot of attacks that happen every single day all across the internet. Many times, these hack attacks are directed at places where hackers know a lot of money is being held (a.k.a., online sportsbooks).

Now, this isn’t meant to scare you away from playing online or ever turning on a computer again. If you’re betting with a reputable online site, they’re going to be all over these threats and way out in front of them. This is what we’re specifically looking for. Are they proactively getting out in front of any threats to ensure that you’re going to be safe? If the answer is yes, we love it. If it’s anything but a yes, that’s a big red X from us for that site.

You shouldn’t have to worry about your safety or the security of your money and personal information when you’re betting online. Yes, there are threats out there, but if an online betting site puts the right amount of resources behind protecting you, there should be no problems at all.

One of the neat things about the Canadian gaming market is that it is heavily regulated and requires certain license types to operate. While this may make more work and a headache for the site owners, it creates a much safer and predictable experience for you and other betting patrons. Basically, the Canada betting sites are forced to follow a “code of conduct” that tells them what they can and can’t do. This is meant to protect you from any betting sites that might not have your best interest in mind. If a site violates any of these rules, they run the risk of losing their license or being heavily fined, which are obviously things they don’t want to see happen.

This is a big plus for Canadian bettors or those playing on sites that service the Canadian marketplace.

The next thing we take a long look at is how easy the site is to navigate and use. Are you able to do everything you want to without being tempted to throw your computer or smart device in the pool? Is it easy to make your wagers without fear of misclicks or mistakes? Are the different types of bets, sports, and games organized well, or does it look like a jam-packed mess?

These are only a few of the questions that we ask ourselves when we’re reviewing Canada betting sites with the potential to make our recommended list. The bottom line is that we want a site that understands what bettors want and delivers that in a clean, easy-to-use package. Is that too much to ask for? Well, we don’t think so, but apparently, a few of the sites we’ve reviewed don’t find this that easy to pull off. You won’t see those sites on our recommended list, though.

One of the most important factors that we look at when reviewing online betting sites is how much coverage they offer for different sports, leagues, and bet types. While we can’t predict what you personally like to bet, we do know that more is always going to be better. Contrary to popular belief, not every sportsbook offers action on every sport, league, or bet type. In fact, what they offer is one of the biggest differences between a lot of sportsbooks.

When we choose to recommend a Canadian sportsbook, we’re looking for more. But that’s just because we are trying to find the solution that is going to please the most people. What we recommend you do is make sure you check that the betting site you’re considering offers the action you’re looking for on the sport or league you like to bet. That’s a big mouthful, long-winded way of saying this: make sure a site will let you bet what you want to bet. If they don’t offer action on the sport or league you like to bet, find a different site.

Unless you like to bet something terribly obscure, most of the Canada betting sites we’ve recommended at the top of this guide should be more than sufficient to handle your action. They’re certainly going to offer NHL betting, baseball betting, and football betting amongst a lot of other “staple” sports. But we still recommend you take two seconds and check before creating your account and depositing.

Three cheers for free stuff! Yeah, we get pretty excited when we get the opportunity to get anything free. You should see what happens when they bring donuts to our breakroom. Anyways, back on topic. One thing we look at when reviewing online betting sites is what sorts of bonus promotions they have available to bettors. These can be in the form of deposit bonuses, free bet promotions, VIP loyalty programs, cash back deals, or anything else creative their marketing department dreams up.

What’s pretty awesome about betting online is that you can start getting these rewards much sooner than you do at a brick-and-mortar location. Usually, the rewards are also a bit more lucrative than their brick-and-mortar cousins, so that’s pretty awesome, too.

Side note: if you’re a big bonus hunter, make sure you take a minute and read our tips section below because we do have a slight precaution you’re going to want to at least keep in mind during your search.

The hardest part about betting on sports should be picking out who you’re going to bet on. It should definitely not be loading your money online or withdrawing your winnings. That should be the easy part, freeing you up to focus on finding value and making money. But even with all of the growth of technology, there are still some Canada betting sites that struggle to get this right.

Here’s the thing. We aren’t asking for much here. All we want are two things. One, we want a few quality options to get our money deposited into our betting account quickly (and fee-free). And two, we want a few quality options to withdraw our winnings quickly and reliably. Is that really too much to ask for? We don’t think so, which is why we won’t touch a sportsbook or betting site that misses the mark in this category.

One of the most important aspects of a recommendation and rankings list is how often it is updated. If a list is not kept up to date, it really becomes worthless pretty quickly. This is especially true in the internet gaming world because the quality of sites and sportsbooks can change overnight.

Sure, there are some great betting sites that do an incredible job of staying on top (like a lot of the Canada betting sites we recommended above). But the industry does have a propensity for change. New sites will rise through the ranks with incredible products and services, while some of the leaders will get complacent and lazy and start to fall off the mark.

In order to accommodate for these changes, we work hard to keep our recommendations list updated. If we see a new site we think you need to know about, we’ll add it to the list. On the flip side, no betting site on the list has a secured position. If they start slacking off or mistreat some customers, they will fall from the list faster than…well, faster than something that falls fast.